Go figure. The dangerous, manipulative Marxist ideology behind movements like Black Lives Matter, is contrary to the message of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. So says the guy peddling the poison, radical race theorist and “antiracism” impresario Ibram X. Kendi.
In newly resurfaced video of Kendi giving a lecture in a Manhattan church in 2019, the radical author told his audience that “savior theology,” or that idea that the Christian (in the manner of Christ) goes out and invites the sinner into the Church so God may save his soul, creates “bigotry.”
It’s a good reminder for many that current “wokeism” in America is flat out incompatible with the Gospel, and its peddlers are the first to admit that.
The author and “founding director of the Boston University Center for Anti-Racist Research,” talked about the idea that being antiracist and committed to freeing people from systems of oppression here on earth is the true way to achieve human fulfillment. He rejected Christianity’s worldview – to which all of Western civilization’s progress is indebted – saying it actually gets in the way of the true progress that the antiracist strives for.
He contrasted traditional Christian “savior theology” with “Liberation Theology,” a tired old Marxist perversion of the faith (the communists found it darned helpful making inroads into Catholic Latin America in the 1970s and 80s).
Kendi explained “liberation theology” says “Jesus was a revolutionary and the job of the Christian is to revolutionize society ... to liberate society from the powers on earth that are oppressing humanity.” Of course, there are facets of this perspective which are good; that the Christian, and Christ Himself, would want His people to be set free from earthly oppression. But that seems to be the extent of Kendi’s idea of Christ’s mission, that He was a political figure set to make our material lives more palatable.
Remember, wannabe revolutionary Judas Iscariot, made this mistake.
Ibram Kendi, speaking in a Manhattan church, says "antiracists" fundamentally reject "savior theology" ("the Christian is to go out and save these individuals who are behaviorally deficient") and embrace liberation theology ("the Christian is to revolutionize society"). pic.twitter.com/sMsKaWAjRe
— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) March 23, 2021
Of course traditional Christians know that Christ’s true mission was to save men from spiritual bondage, from sin, not political oppression per se. This is part of the reason many Jewish people became disillusioned with Him. He didn’t wage the revolution against the occupying Romans. “Give unto Caesar” and all that. Sure, the Lord is the author of true justice and mercy, but humanity’s main oppressor was not political but spiritual. Sin, not a racist regime, is the deeper, realer threat to humanity.
Liberation theology and the rejection of “savior theology” miss the point of Christ entirely. That’s why the Catholic Church rejected it. Kendi stated, “Savior theology is a different type of theology. The job of the Christian is to go out and save these individuals who are behaviorally deficient.”
Can you see where this is going? Christ rebuking the sinner is being spun as potentially bigoted behavior. He continued, “In other words, we’re to bring them into the Church – these individuals who are doing all of these evil, sinful things – and heal them. Save them.” Kendi concluded that “antiracists fundamentally reject [Savior theology]” which he claimed breeds “bigotry,” because it promotes this idea that people need to be saved from their behaviors, rather than be embraced for them.
Again Kendi is frustrated that antiracism hasn’t been the end all be all of Christian society and that is why it, in its true sense, is obsolete. Considering the popularity of critical race theory in our culture and Kendi’s affirmation that Christianity stands in its way, we need to firmly reject leaders like Kendi before they really start a confrontation with religious people.